Some of us parents can probably recall a time when we visited our kids’ schools and weren’t too happy with the way we were treated. Maybe we were ignored as we waited in the main office for someone to attend to us. Maybe a staff member was rude or not as friendly as we’d expected.
I can recall feeling discouraged many years ago when I’d visit the Silver Spring elementary school that my kids attended, hoping to have a word with the principal at the time. The woman so disliked dealing with parents that she seemed to shrink from us whenever we approached.
She’s long gone and the principal who took her place set a new tone of friendliness and accommodation that we couldn’t fail to appreciate.
The importance of providing quality customer service may not be something that we generally think about when it comes to schools. But if we parents and others don’t feel welcome, that doesn’t bode well for our continuing involvement with our schools.
And research shows that student achievement increases when parents are involved in their kids’ education.
That’s why the Montgomery County Public Schools’ Department of Family and Community Partnerships launched its Welcoming Environment Initiative in January 2011. “It’s all about that customer service,” says Eric Davis, who launched the program when he was director of the department.
The voluntary program was created to give principals and their leadership teams a way to measure how welcoming their schools are. Using a number of methods, the program provides a comprehensive assessment of how a school provides customer service— from how visitors are received in the front office to whether a newsletter is user-friendly. Schools can use the feedback in their school improvement plans, says Davis, who is now MCPS’s acting director of school performance.
More than 30 schools—including 15 elementary, 11 middle and four high schools—have already participated and another half-dozen have signed up, Davis says. “We’re getting calls all the time,” he says.
The goal is to eventually assess each of the 200 MCPS schools.
The program offers several components, including a walk-thru to assess a school’s environment and its customer service. Other steps include analyzing school websites and newsletters, holding focus groups with parents to find out about their experiences, and even sending in a parent as a “Secret Shopper” to “pretty much just see how they are treated,” Davis says.
“We really help the schools look through the lens of a parent-friendly and welcoming environment,” Parnership Manager Rachel Sprecher says in a video about the program that’s posted on the MCPS website.
As part of the process, the department also offers a video that includes typical scenarios to teach schools how to provide proper customer service. In one scene, according to Davis, a staff member confronts a parent who has failed to sign in at the main office, as all visitors are required to do.
“There’s nothing wrong with asking a parent to go the main office,” Davis says he tells school staff members who are viewing the video. But “there’s a right way and wrong way to approach a parent.”
Making sure that schools use the welcoming approach is sure to pay off in a stronger partnership between families and schools. And that welcoming atmosphere should begin once a visitor steps into the building.
“The first impression a parent has is the front office and it can set the tone for the rest of the year,” Davis says.
